Monday, December 28, 2015

The German Navy Frankenthal-class (type 332) mine countermeasure vessel FGS Weilheim (M 1059) has sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) this afternoon on a courtesy visit. This is her third visit in Valletta Port this year.

The German MCMV is presently berthing alongside at Gun wharf, and she's scheduled to sail from Malta in the coming days. (28-Dec-2015)

Friday, December 18, 2015

The Italian Coast Guard Luigi Dattilo-class multi-purpose patrol vessel Luigi Dattilo (CP 940) has sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) this morning on a courtesy visit. This is her second visit in Valletta Port this year.The Italian patrol vessel is presently berthing alongside at Pinto-2 wharf, and she's expected to sail from the Malta in the coming days. (18-Dec-2015)

Malta International Airport today welcomed its
4,500,000th passenger this year, marking another milestone in the airport’s
history, as annual traffic keeps growing to unprecedented levels. Annual traffic is now one million passengers more than it was
in 2011, a growth of more than 25%, with traffic of the last four years having
risen greater than passenger movements of the previous 10 years combined.
(Source: maltairport.com, 17-Dec-2015)

Monday, December 14, 2015

An Air Malta Airbus A319-100 (9H-AEH), performing flight KM-395 from Amsterdam-Schiphol (the Netherlands) to Malta IAP, had to divert to Rome-Fiumicino (Italy) this afternoon, as a precautionary measure, due to some technical problems.Since no spare parts were available in Rome, Air Malta's flight KM-476 between Malta IAP and Paris-Orly (France), opw Airbus A320-200 '9H-AEP', had to be diverted to Rome to drop off spare parts and two technicians. After repairs were carried out on 9H-AEH, the aircraft departed again and reached Malta IAP with a delay of six hours. (13-Dec-2013)

A Turkish Airlines Airbus A330-200 (TC-JIV), performing flight TK-589 from Liberville (Gabon) to Istantbul-Ataturk IAP (Turkey), had to divert to Malta International Airport this morning due to a medical emergency onboard. The aircraft continued with its flight to Istanbul after a two-hour technical stop. (10-Dec-2013)

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Passenger figures this November have continued the upward trend which
has characterized this year’s overall performance, increasing by 10.6%
over the same period last year and equivalent to an additional 27,250
passenger movements.

Seat capacity grew by 9.4% due to greater route frequency, while the
number of occupied seats on flights also increased from 80% to 81.3%.

The top five destinations last month saw one major shift in which
Turkey displaced Switzerland after achieving an impressive 63.4% rise in
passengers due to increased flights to Istanbul.

This November two of
the airport’s top five markets saw a slight dip in traffic numbers with
France and Germany dropping by -3.6% and -0.2% respectively. The rest
outperformed the same period last year, with Italy registering an 18%
increase in passengers and the U.K. market increasing by 1.9%. Spain also
bolstered its traffic figures by more than double as a result of new
operations to and from Barcelona this winter.

In November the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) increased by 12.5%, and Cargo and Mail marked an increase of 11.5%, reaching 1,476 tonnes.

Overall traffic figures (Jan-Nov) show that over 300,000 more journeys started
and ended at our airport this year. Passenger movements have risen by
7.6%, aircraft movements by 6.4%, cargo and mail by 3.4%, and seat
capacity has expanded by 5.6%. (Source: maltairport.com, 8-Dec-2015)

Monday, November 30, 2015

The Royal Navy Duke-class frigate HMS Somerset (F 82) has sailed into Valletta Port (Grand Harbour) this afternnon on a courtesy visit. This is her second visit in Valletta Port this year.

The British frigate - with a Merlin HM.2 helicopter on board, serial ZH841 - is presently berthing alongside at Pinto-3 wharf, and she's expected to sail from Malta on Wednesday, Dec. 4th. (30-Nov-2015)

Saturday, November 28, 2015

AFM's 'new' offshore-patrol vessel P62 has arrived at the AFM's maritime base at Hay wharf early this morning under the command of Maj J. Grixti. P62, formerly LE Aoife (P 22) with the Irish Naval Service, was donated to Armed Forces of Malta by the Irish Government. She left from Cork, Ireland, on Nov. 28th after undergoing maintenance works by the Irish Army and the Armed Forces of Malta.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

The Royal Navy Albion-class amphibious transport dock HMS Bulwark (L 15) has sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) this morning on a courtesy visit. This is her third visit in Valletta Port this year.The British LPD is presently berthing alongside at Pinto-4/5 wharf and she's expected to sail from Malta on November 30th. (22-Nov-2015)

Saturday, November 21, 2015

The Irish Naval Service Samuel Beckett-class offshore-patrol vessel LE Samuel Beckett (P 61) has sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) this morning on a courtesy visit. This is her fourth visit in Valletta Port this year.

The Irish OPV is presently berthing alongside at Pinto-3 wharf and she's expected to sail from Malta in the coming days after a short stay. (21-Nov-2015)

Thursday, November 19, 2015

CSA Czech Airlines in summer 2016 season plans to introduce additional new routes from Prague, including amongst is the new route to Malta. The Prague-Malta-Prague will commence on Jun. 11th with one weekly flight, on Saturdays, up to Sep. 24th. A second weekly route will be introduced on Tuesdays between Jun. 28th and Aug. 30th. (Source: airlineroute.net, 18-Nov-2015)

Thursday, November 12, 2015

The Icelandic Coast Guard Aegir-class offshore-patrol vessel ICGV Tyr has sailed into Valletta Port this afternoon on a courtesy visit. This is her ninth visit in the Grand Harbour this year. The Icelandic OPV is presently berthing alongside at Pinto-1 wharf, and she's expected to sail from Malta in the coming days (12-Nov-2015)

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

The French Navy D'Estienne d'Orves-class corvette FS Commandant Bouan (F 797) sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) this morning on a courtesy visit. This is her second port-call in Valletta Port this year.

The French corvette is presently berthing alongside at Pinto-3 wharf and she's expected to sail from Malta in the coming days. (10-Nov-2015)

Friday, November 6, 2015

Autumn at Malta IAP began on a positive note this
year with passenger numbers comparable to those typically experienced
during the early summer months. Passenger movements this October showed
the greatest increase of any month in 2015 so far, with a 10.2% growth
over October 2014. In total, 464,557 passengers passed through the airport, representing a net gain of 42,834, over October last year. The rise in traffic has moved in line with seat capacity growth of 11.4% last month.The airport also saw its four millionth passenger
last month, a considerable shift forward from last year when passenger
figures hit this same milestone on the Nov. 21st, a full month
later. With the exception of Germany which underwent a dip of 7.3%, all of the
airport’s top ten performing countries last month exceeded their
passenger numbers over the previous year. France demonstrated a modest
increase of 1.4%, while Turkey shot ahead, almost doubling its numbers
from 6,705 to 12,949 passengers this October. Additional flights to the
Netherlands also led passenger figures to grow by an impressive 40.4%.
Other high-performing countries include Austria and Sweden which
increased by 20.8% and 29%, as well as Switzerland which saw a 29% boost
due to the entry of a new carrier into the Swiss market. The top two
destinations remained the U.K. and Italy which grew by 9.6% and 10.1%
respectively and constituted a combined total of 18,626 additional
passengers last month.In October, cargo increased by 3.6% which constituted an additional 52
tonnes. This means the airport carried the equivalent of 2,300 filled
suitcases in additional cargo when compared to the figures registered
last year. (Source: maltairport.com, 5-Nov-2015)

Thursday, November 5, 2015

An Air Malta aircraft made a precautionary landing after a bird strike as it took-off for Duesseldorf (KM-352) yesterday. A passenger who was on board the plane said the plane levelled out
soon after take-off and the pilot informed those on board that it had
been decided to return to Malta as a precautionary measure because of a
bird strike. The plane circled the island and then landed safely. "The crew on board was working perfectly and professionally," the passenger said. He described the landing as 'perfect' and said the plane immediately
headed to the maintenance area where it was examined by engineers. They
found evidence of a bird strike and remains of the bird were also found
on the runway. The plane itself was ready for flight after about an hour. One passenger refused to fly again and was taken to the terminal building. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 5-Nov-2015)

easyJet is to fly a new route between Malta and Geneva from the coming
summer. The new summer service commences on Mar. 29th. Flights will operate twice
weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays with fares starting from €31.49 one way per
person. A. Gayward, UK commercial manager for easyJet, commented: "I am really
pleased that we are adding another destination to our network from Malta. We
will now operate to six destinations from Malta and have come a long way since
the launch of our first flight to Malta back in March 2008. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 4-Nov-2015)

Sunday, November 1, 2015

An easyJet Airbus A319-100 (G-DBCE), performing flight BA-2694 from London-Gatwick (U.K.) to Catania-Fontanarossa (Sicily), had to divert to Malta International Airport this morning (around 1140lt) due to a bad weather at Catania airport. The aircraft continued with its flight to Catania after a two-hour tech-stop at Malta IAP. (1-Nov-2015)

Friday, October 30, 2015

The Royal Navy Echo-class survery vessel HMS Enterprise (H 88) sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) this morning on a courtesy visit. This is her fourth visit in Valletta Port this year.The British survey vessel is presently berthing at Palumbo SY (in Dock-5, French creek), and she's expected to sail from Malta in the coming days. (30-Oct-2015)

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

The Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) signed a contract for the provision of the third Maritime Patrol Aircraft funded by the E.U. 2014-2020 Internal Security Funds. The contract was signed in the presence of Aerodata President and CEO H. J. Stahl, Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta Brig J. Curmi and other high ranking members of the AFM.

This aircraft will join the two King Air B200 fleet already in the AFM’s possession and will come complete with integrated systems and a service support package strengthening the current fixed wing fleet’s role of protecting the southern external borders of the E.U. The specialised mission system equipment integrates a belly mounted radar, a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) system, SAR direction finder and a number of other sensors and communication equipment including satellite communication and data transmission.

The aircraft will be modified at the Aerodata’s facilities at Braunschweig airport in Germany. The third King Air B200 aircraft is expected to be delivered in 2017. (Source: Armed Forces of Malta,

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Ryanair has launched its new route between Rome-Ciampino and Malta IAP this afternoon. The first scheduled flight, operated with Boeing B737-800 (EI-ESM), landed at Malta IAP around 1440lt. It re-departed to Ciampino after a quick turn. Ryanair will be operating six-weekly flights the two airports this winter (no flights on Wednesdays). (25-Oct-2015)

Thursday, October 22, 2015

KLM and Air Malta have inaugurated
their code-share agreement today. The code-share, which started this
summer, saw KLM placing its code and flight numbers on flights operated
by Air Malta between Malta and Amsterdam. This agreement has enabled KLM to
offer its customers daily services between Amsterdam and Malta. Air
Malta’s flights to/from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport connect with KLM’s
extensive global network. Customers of both airlines are benefitting
from new services, such as through check-in for passengers with
connections. (Source: Air Malta, 21-Oct-2015)

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

On Oct. 15th M.C.M.'s new hangar in
Malta opened its doors for the first aircraft, scheduled for maintenance works. In the light of increased
aviation traffic and demand for hangar space and aircraft maintenance services
M.C.M. Group invested in an additional 2,400 square meter hangar, adjusted to
its existing Maintenance facility at Malta IAP,
allowing work to be completed simultaneously on three of the Bombardier Global
Series and the New Bombardier C-Series .

The opening of the new hangar
marks the end of the first phase of the expansion project that the M.C.M.
initiated in 2014. In the coming months
the Group is looking forward to the finishing works of the 630 square meters
customer service centre, 2280 square meters, workshops, offices and the state
of the art training facility adjusted to the hangar. With the completion of
this project M.C.M. Group will offer a truly one-stop shop for all your
aviation needs from its Maintenance facility at Malta IAP. (Source: M.C.M. Group, 19-Oct-2015)

Friday, October 16, 2015

Audited figures announced during today’s Air Malta AGM show that the airline
posted a loss of €16.4 million for the year ending March 2015 and is set to
reduce its losses to €4 million by 2016.Now in its fifth year of the
European Commission's restructuring plan, the company was supposed to break even
and return to profitability by next year. But an optimistic chairperson Ms M. Micallef said that in its final year of the
European Commission's restructuring plan, the company kept its losses down to
€16.4 million despite the closure of the Libya route and a drastic drop in
passengers from Russia following the Ukrainian crisis. The losses from the Libyan and Russian markets amount to some €10 million but this has been offset by savings in other areas, including fuel costs. Results for the
first six months of the current financial year show that the company has
increased its profits by €8.7 million when compared to the same period of the
previous year. If these results are maintained the airline is in line to reduce
its losses to €4 million.

Noting the company's "economies of scale
disadvantage" she said a strategic alliance would "change all this" adding that
Air Malta has the potential to become part of a wider network with the clout to
command prices. "Such an alliance would feed our network and ensure the
much required increase in passengers and revenue," she said. (Source: maltatoday.com, 15-Oct-2015)

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Ryanair will be operating nine new routes to and from Malta next summer,
bringing its total of destinations from the island to 36 – two more than Air
Malta. The airline said this was being done through an investment of $100
million. The new routes are Baden, Berlin, Cologne and Dusseldorf in Germany, Gdansk
and Poznan in Poland, Manchester, Rome and Budapest. The airline is also increasing the frequency of its flights to Birmingham to
three times weekly, Edinburgh to five weekly and London to daily. Ryanair would have an additional aircraft based here, bringing the total to
three. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 14-Oct-2015)

Friday, October 9, 2015

September was
the third month in a row this year to have seen more than 500,000 passengers
passing through Malta IAP, creating a three-month record streak that had never
been seen before. For the first time ever, more than 1.6 million passengers
travelled through the airport in just three months: July, August and
September.

With a total of
502,823 passengers travelling through the airport last month, this marks an
8.6% rise over the number of passengers at Malta IAP when compared to September
2014. The average seat load factor for the month, which measures the
number of filled seats on every flight, rose marginally to 85.8% last month.
The increase in passengers for September is relative to the 8.5% rise in seat
capacity over last year. Aircraft movements also registered a 10.8% growth,
which is mostly attributed to the new seat capacity secured this year with the
addition of new airlines operating to and from Malta.

The top 5
markets remain the U.K., Italy, Germany, France and Spain. Significant growth was
registered on British and Italian routes with an increase of 7.4% and 12.9%
respectively. German passengers recorded a drop of 4.4% due to fewer aircraft
movements to Frankfurt and Munich while the French market marked a marginal
decrease of 1.5%. Traffic to and from Spain was reduced by 10% due to a
reduction in seats on the Barcelona and Gerona routes.

Outside of the
top five markets, other destinations are registering noteworthy growth –
traffic to and from Turkey has more than doubled over September 2014, while new
traffic from Switzerland and Poland have generated 26% and 33% growth
respectively.

Up until the
Sep. 30th, Malta International Airport hosted 3,623,663 passengers - a growth
of 7% over last year. Aircraft movements grew by 5.7% while seat capacity
increased by 4.7%. The seat load factor also rose to 81.3% compared to 79.6%
last year.

In September the
maximum take-off weight (MTOW) increased by 8.9%, and cargo and mail increased
by 1.5%. (Source: maltairport.com, 8-Oct-2015)

Friday, October 2, 2015

Volotea will be operating
flights between Malta and Catania from next year. There will be flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays starting from
Mar. 24th with fares starting from €19.99 one way, tax included. Commercial country manager Valeria Rebasti said the airline hoped to launch
flights to other destinations in the coming years. She said Malta was the first international route the airline was operating to
from Catania airport. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 2-Oct-2015)

Monday, September 28, 2015

The Spanish Navy ro-ro transport ship ESPS Martin Posadillo (A 04) has sailed into Valletta (the Grand Harbour) this morning on a courtesy visit. The Spanish transport ship is currently berthing alongside at Sawmill wharf, in the French creek, and she's expected to sail from Malta on Friday, Oct. 2nd. (28-Sep-2015)

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

The Irish Naval Service Roisin-class patrol vessel LE Niamh (P 52) has sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) this morning on a courtesy visit. This is her third visit in Valletta Port this year

LE Niamh is currently deployed in the Mediterranean Sea as part of European Union's Joint-Operation Triton.

The Irish patrol vessel is presently berthing alongside at Boiler wharf and she's expected to sail from Malta in the coming days after a brief stay. (22-Sep-2015)

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Swiss and Polish aerobatic teams and Royal Navy's Black Cats will be
taking part in this year's Malta International Airshow on Sep. 26th and 27th. The Malta Aviation Society, which organises the show, said 12
countries and NATO will be represented in this year's edition - the
23rd. The PC-7 Swiss Air Force team, and the Orlik team from the Polish Air
Force enjoy an excellent reputation amongvisitors to airshows. A Belgian Air Force F-16 will also be making aerobatic displays.J. Ciliberti, President of the Malta Aviation Society, said the
popular Malta International Airshow compared very well with other
European displays. “We are looking forward to host some of the best pilots and
engineering teams within the aviation sector. Those attending the event
will also note that the static display is quite rich, with various
interesting aircraft which the public can view and photography from
close range." Among the displayed aircraft will be RAF Typhoon fighters.The airshow is being supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Malta Tourism Authority, Malta Air Traffic Services, Armed Forces of Malta, Malta International Airport, the Police and Civil Protection Department.The show times are between 10am and 5.30pm on both days. Tickets cost
are adults: Saturday: €10 for prepaid tickets and €13 at the airshow
gate. Sunday: €13 for prepaid tickets and €15 at the airshow gate.
Children under 14 enter free when accompanied by an adult. More details on participating aircraft and tickets at www.maltairshow.com(Source: timesofmalta.com, 19-Sep-2015)

Friday, September 18, 2015

An Air Malta A320-200 (9H-AEK), performing flight KM-329 (on Sep. 17th) from Frankfurt (Germany) to Malta International Airport (Malta) with scheduled time of arrival 2225LT, had to divert to Rome-Fiumicino (Italy) due to sick passenger on board. The flight continued to Malta IAP, landing at 0010LT. (18-Sep-2015)